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[No. 24066. December 9, 1925]

VALENTIN SUSI, plaintiff and appellee, vs.

ANGELA RAZON and THE DIRECTOR OF
LANDS, defendants. THE DIRECTOR OF LANDS,
appellant.

1. PUBLIC LANDS; ACQUISITION BY

OCCUPANCY.—An open, continuous, adverse
and public possession of a land of the public
domain from time immemorial by a private
individual personally and through his predecessors
confers an effective title on said possessor,
whereby the land ceases to be public, to become
private, property.

2. ID.; ID.; REQUISITES.—To acquire a right to a

certificate of title over a land of the public domain,
under the provisions of Chapter VI of Act No. 926,
as amended by Chapter VIII of Act No. 2874, an
open, adverse, public and continuous possession
from July 26, 1894, is sufficient, provided the
possessor makes application therefor under the
provisions of section 47 of Act No. 2874. The
possessor under such circumstances acquires by
operation of law, not only a right to a grant, but a
grant of the government, and the actual issuance of
a title is not necessary in order that said grant may
be sanctioned by the courts.

3. ID.; ID.; ID.; RECOVERY OF PROPERTY.—As

the possessor of a public land under the
circumstances mentioned in the preceding

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paragraphs acquires the land by operation of law

as a grant from the State, the land ceasing to be of
public domain, to become private property, at least
by presumption, it follows that it can no longer be
sold by the Director of Lands to another person,
and if he does, the sale is void, and the said
possessor may recover the land from any person
holding it against his will.

425

VOL. 48, DECEMBER 9, 1925 425

Susi vs. Razon and Director of Lands

APPEAL from a judgment of the Court of First

Instance of Pampanga. Reyes, J.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Acting Attorney-General Reyes for appellant.
Monico R. Mercado for appellee.

VlLLA-REAL, J.:

This action was commenced in the Court of First

Instance of Pampanga by a complaint filed by
Valentin Susi against Angela Razon and the Director
of Lands, praying for judgment: (a) Declaring
plaintiff the sole and absolute owner of the parcel of
land described in the second paragraph of the
complaint; (b) annulling the sale made by the
Director of Lands in favor of Angela Razon, on the
ground that the land is a private property; (c) ordering
the cancellation of the certificate of title issued to
said Angela Razon; and (d) sentencing the latter to
pay plaintiff the sum of P500 as damages, with the
costs.
For his answer to the complaint, the Director of
Lands denied each and every allegation contained
therein and, as special defense, alleged that the land
in question was a property of the Government of the
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United States under the administration and control of

that of the Philippine Islands before its sale to Angela
Razon, which was made in accordance with law.
After trial, whereat evidence was introduced by
both parties, the Court of First Instance of Pampanga
rendered judgment declaring the plaintiff entitled to
the possession of the land, annulling the sale made by
the Director of Lands in favor of Angela Razon, and
ordering the cancellation of the certificate of title
issued to her, with the costs against Angela Razon.
From this judgment the Director of Lands took this
appeal, assigning thereto the following errors, to wit:
(1) The holding that the judgment rendered in a prior
case between the plaintiff and defendant Angela
Razon on the parcel of land in question

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426 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED

Susi vs. Razon and Director of Lands

is controlling in this action; (2) the holding that

plaintiff is entitled to recover the possession of said
parcel of land; the annulment of the sale made by the
Director of Lands to Angela Razon; and the ordering
that the certificate of title issued by the register of
deeds of the Province of Pampanga to Angela Razon
by virtue of said sale be cancelled; and (3) the denial
of the motion for new trial filed by the Director of
Lands.
The evidence shows that on December 18, 1880,
Nemesio Pinlac sold the land in question, then a fish
pond, to Apolonio Garcia and Basilio Mendoza for
the sum of P12, reserving the right to repurchase the
same (Exhibit B). After having been in possession
thereof for about eight years, and the fish pond
having been destroyed, Apolonio Garcia and Basilio
Mendoza, on September 5, 1899, sold it to Valentin
Susi for the sum of P12, reserving the right to
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repurchase it (Exhibit A). Before the execution of the

deed of sale, Valentin Susi had already paid its price
and sown "bacawan" on said land, availing himself of
the firewood gathered thereon, with the proceeds of
the sale of which he had paid the price of the
property. The possession and occupation of the land
in question, first, by Apolonio Garcia and Basilio
Mendoza, and then by Valentin Susi has been open,
continuous, adverse and public, without any
interruption, except during the revolution, or
disturbance, except when Angela Razon, on
September 13, 1913, commenced an action in the
Court of First Instance of Pampanga to recover the
possession of said land (Exhibit C), wherein after
considering the evidence introduced at the trial, the
court rendered judgment in favor of Valentin Susi and
against Angela Razon, dismissing the complaint
(Exhibit E). Having failed in her attempt to obtain
possession of the land in question through the court,
Angela Razon applied to the Director of Lands for
the purchase thereof on August 15, 1914 (Exhibit C).
Having learned of said application, Valentin Susi
filed an opposition thereto on December 6, 1915,
asserting his possession of the

427

VOL. 48, DECEMBER 9, 1925 427

Susi vs. Razon and Director of Lands

land for twenty-five years (Exhibit P). After making

the proper administrative investigation, the Director
of Lands overruled the opposition of Valentin Susi
and sold the land to Angela Razon (Exhibit S). By
virtue of said grant the register of deeds of
Pampanga, on August 31, 1921, issued the proper
certificate of title to Angela Razon. Armed with said
document, Angela Razon required Valentin Susi to,
vacate the land in question, and as he refused to do
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so, she brought an action for forcible entry and

detainer in the justice of the peace court of Guagua,
Pampanga, which was dismissed for lack of
jurisdiction, the case being one of title to real
property (Exhibits F and M). Valentin Susi then
brought this action.
With these facts in view, we shall proceed to
consider the questions raised by the appellant in his
assignments of error.
It clearly appears from the evidence that Valentin
Susi has been in possession of the land in question
openly, continuously, adversely and publicly,
personally and through his predecessors, since the
year 1880, that is, for about forty-five years. While
the judgment of the Court of First Instance of
Pampanga against Angela Razon in the forcible entry
case does not affect the Director of Lands, yet it is
controlling as to Angela Razon and rebuts her claim
that she had been in possession thereof. When on
August 15, 1914, Angela Razon applied for the
purchase of said land, Valentin Susi had already been
in possession thereof personally and through his
predecessors for thirtyfour years. And if it is taken
into.account that Nemesio Pinlac had already made
said land a fish pond when he sold it on December
18, 1880, it can hardly be estimated when he began to
possess and occupy it, the period of time being so
long that it is beyond the reach of memory. These
being the facts, the doctrine laid down by the
Supreme Court of the United States in the case of
Cariño vs. 1Government of the Philippine Islands (212
U. S., 449 ), is

_______________

1 41 Phil., 935.

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Susi vs. Razon and Director of Lands

applicable here. In favor of Valentin Susi, there is,

moreover, the presumption juris et de jure established
in paragraph (5) of section 45 of Act No. 2874,
amending Act No. 926, that all the necessary
requirements for a grant by the Government were
complied with, for he has been in actual and physical
possession, personally and through his predecessors,
of an agricultural land of the public domain openly,
continuously, exclusively and publicly since July 26,
1894, with a right to a certificate of title to said land
under the provisions of Chapter VIII of said Act. So
that when Angela Razon applied for the grant in her
favor, Valentin Susi had already acquired, by
operation of law, not only a right to a grant, but a
grant of the Government, for it is not necessary that
certificate of title should be issued in order that said
grant may be sanctioned by the courts, an application
therefor is sufficient, under the provisions of section
47 of Act No. 2874. If by a legal fiction, Valentin
Susi had acquired the land in question by a grant of
the State, it had already ceased to be of the public
domain and had become private property, at least by
presumption, of Valentin Susi, beyond the control of
the Director of Lands. Consequently, in selling the
land in question to Angela Razon, the Director of
Lands disposed of a land over which he had no longer
any title or control,' and the sale thus made was void
and of no effect, and Angela Razon did not thereby
acquire any right.
The Director of Lands contends that the land in
question being of the public domain, the plaintiff-
appellee cannot maintain an action to recover
possession thereof.
If, as above stated, the land, the possession of
which is in dispute, had already become, by operation
of law, private property of the plaintiff, there lacking
only the judicial sanction of his title, Valentin Susi

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has the right to bring an action to recover the

possession thereof and hold it.
For the foregoing, and no error having been found
in the judgment appealed from, the same is hereby
affirmed

429

VOL. 48, DECEMBER 10, 1925 429

Oliver and Chamblise Oliver vs. "La Vanguardia,
Inc."

in all its parts, without special pronouncement as to

costs. So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Malcolm, Street, Villamor,

Ostrand, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.
Johnson, J., did not take part.

Judgment affirmed.

___________

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